Plant and animal species that are endemic in China have been under sound protection as the country has been strengthening protection network and various localities have taken vigorous efforts to ensure that they are well protected.
Population of wild giant panda increases by 700 over a course of 30 years
Surveys indicated that a total of 1,110 giant pandas were living in the wild as of the end of 1988; by the end of 2003, the population of giant pandas living in the wild surpassed 1,590; currently, the number stands at 1,864. Between 2003 and 2020, the number of giant pandas in captivity worldwide increased from 161 to 633.
“We’ve been taking continuous efforts to strengthen panda breeding and protection and striving to boost the population and genetic diversity of giant pandas. As a result, the population of giant pandas has expanded steadily. We’ve also carried out artificial breeding and released giant pandas into the wild in an orderly manner,” said Li Desheng, deputy director at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.
The country has carried out ecological restoration projects, including returning farmland to forests and building ecological corridors in giant panda habitats, to make sure the population and habitat areas of giant pandas can grow continuously, Li added.
Number of Tibetan antelopes soars to 300,000 from 70,000
Chukphel Tashi is a patroller who rescues Tibetan antelope calves during the reproduction and migration season of the animal while at the Zhuonai Lake protection station in the Hol Xil Nature Reserve, northwest China’s Qinghai province.
Between May and July each year, Tibetan antelopes from the Sanjiangyuan region, Altun Mountains in Xinjiang, and the Changtang region in Tibet will arrive at the Hol Xil Nature Reserve to give birth to their babies. Chukphel Tashi’s job is to rescue calves that are separated from the main herds and then release them back into the wild when they become healthy and can survive on their own in nature.
In recent years, the Hol Xil Nature Reserve and local law enforcement departments have jointly cracked down on the illegal poaching of Tibetan antelopes. Thanks to these intensifying efforts, the population of the species has grown from less than 70,000 during the 1980s-1990s to around 300,000 at present.
Nearly 7,000 Qiaojia five-needled pines have been artificially cultivated
The Qiaojia five-needled pine is a national first-class protected plant. When it was first discovered in 1990 in southwest China’s Yunnan province, there were only 34 individual plants of the species remaining in the world. By 2021, nearly 7,000 Qiaojia five-needled pines have been artificially cultivated.
The species is characterized by low levels of genetic diversity, its vulnerability, and having a narrow range of distribution. To better study and protect the species, some trees were relocated to a botanical garden at the Kunming Institute of Botany affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Recently, a tree grown at the botanical garden bore fruits for the first time.
The Yunnan Yaoshan National Nature Reserve, located at the place where the species was first discovered, put 1,193 hectares of forests under its jurisdiction for better protect the pine trees. It has taken various measures, including in-situ conservation, ex-situ conservation, and cultivation of saplings to make sure the number of the trees continues to grow sustainably. Not only the nature reserve, but other departments and research institutes in Yunnan have also remained active in cultivating and protecting the species within their localities.